Millcreek supervisors, please explain yourselves: John Morgan

By JOHN MORGANContributing writer

July 7, 2014 12:01 AM

By JOHN MORGANContributing writer

July 7, 2014 12:01 AM

From a proposed new high school to closed grade schools, from cooked books to cheaper water, from conflicting consultants to study commissions, one thing has become clear about Millcreek Township during the last few years: We are a community divided.

We're divided by neighborhoods, divided about utility services, and there's an ever increasing divide between residents and our elected officials. (So much so that we sometimes have to resort to issue-oriented yard signs to get their attention.)

That's why I was hopeful about the election of John Groh, a professed planner, to Millcreek Township's Board of Supervisors. As a planner myself, I was encouraged by the prospect of having a colleague in a position to bring some fresh perspectives and best practices to help make Millcreek's government more open and accessible.

Municipal planning is about engaging your residents in a meaningful dialogue. It's about considering diverse opinions and working toward compromise. Ultimately, the role of a planner is to ensure that everyone who chooses to participate feels that their voices count toward establishing their community's values and priorities. In other words, we as planners are supposed to bring people together, and I had hoped Groh would take up that role for Millcreek.

As a member of Millcreek Township's Planning Commission, I attended the June 24 supervisors' meeting to address the board on a recent zoning amendment that my fellow commissioners and I had worked on. As the meeting progressed, I was disappointed to see that Groh was defensive and at times dismissive toward the more than 50 residents who took the time out of their day to express their concerns over the supervisors' decision to cancel the contract with Meca Inc., the operator of the J.O.Y. Center for seniors.

As a 31-year-old Millcreek resident, I do not have a vested interest in the senior center. However, as an appointed township official and certified planner, I do have an interest in ensuring that every resident of Millcreek is treated with respect, that those affected by the township's actions have an opportunity to plead their case before a decision is made, and that the rationale for those decisions is aired publicly with complete transparency.

Therefore, I would like to encourage my colleague John Groh and his fellow supervisors to reconsider their recent course of action regarding the center.

Our community has struggled for more than a decade to establish this center; it's opening was widely celebrated last fall. As we have seen in Erie County, when the public is against a project, whether a new school or a new industrial facility, they are not shy about expressing their disapproval. No such backlash was directed at the senior center. No public comments against the center were expressed when the contract was awarded in September or when the township approved the operating subsidy in December as part of the 2014 budget.

This is why residents were so surprised when the supervisors voted to cancel the contract on May 27 without prior notice to Meca, the senior center's members or the general public. The only explanation offered was from Groh as reported in the Erie Times-News: "It has nothing to do with their performance. It's the money, sorry."

Considering that even the largest estimated annual cost for the subsidy amounts to only 0.7 percent of the township's budget, that no public comments against the center have been documented and that the supervisors admit they had no concerns about the operator's performance, it's understandable that residents are confused by this decision. Adding the fact that the vote was held without public notice, it's understandable that some people are questioning the supervisors' motives and wondering if this is just business as usual in Millcreek.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Those residents who came out on June 24 had a simple plea: Work with us. One by one they stood at the podium, not to berate or complain, but to ask for help. They asked for a real explanation. They asked for compromise. They asked to be heard.

If our supervisors truly want to be agents of change for a better Millcreek, this is their opportunity. Change the public's perception that their voices don't count. Prove that decisions aren't made behind closed doors. Move to delay this decision, have an open and honest public discussion about the issues and commit yourselves to negotiate a solution before tearing down what folks worked so hard to build up.

Our supervisors should take this opportunity to stop the trends that are dividing our community, and plan for a new standard of transparency and public engagement to help bring us together.

JOHN MORGAN serves on the Millcreek Township Planning Commission and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (mor4652@gmail.com).